A Three-and-a-Half Hour Tour

I believe that children hit new milestones soon after their parents complain about how long it’s taking them to reach them. About a year ago, I remember noticing that Abbie really should be crawling by now, and the next thing I knew the cats had to climb onto higher surfaces for safety. The milestone has to be age-appropriate though; it doesn’t work to wonder when your 2-year-old will nail the counterpoint in that Bach organ fugue she’s been working on for half her life. Wondering when she’ll start talking apparently doesn’t work either.

About a week ago I complained, whined really, that the twins didn’t want to move to a three-and-a-half hour eat-wake time-naptime schedule. They kept falling asleep too early, waking from naps too early, and generally showing no regard for the schedule I meticulously created for them to minimize their impact on my internet time. I had been gradually stretching their schedule, but after jumping into the target schedule one morning last week, and subsequently spending the rest of the day watching them sleep through wake time and scream through naptime, I reverted to the long gradual plan, swearing I would never make such a drastic change to their schedule again.

Then on Friday morning, something magical happened; they stayed awake until their targeted naptime with little intervention from me. Keeping them awake is usually involves lots of poking, tickling, sudden loud noises, and warming of my cold extremities on freshly exposed thighs. On Friday I still rubbed them occasionally when they looked a little comatose, spoke to them while taking care of Abbie to keep their attention, and let Abbie scream in frustration right next to them to keep them alert, but the process didn’t involve nearly as much poking as usual. When naptime rolled around, I set them down, they fell asleep, and I had to wake them for their next feeding.

I kept the schedule for the rest of the day, and things worked so well, I tried it again Saturday. I had to stimulate them to keep them awake that morning more than I did the day before, then I had to coax them into taking their nap more than the previous morning, but we still survived. Today I tried the target schedule again with even more prodding, but the first nap went great. Now I’m officially keeping them on the three-and-a-half hour schedule for good, even if I have to constantly poke, clap, and keep my hands in the freezer for extra stimulation during the entire wake time. Going back to their old schedule now would just confuse them, much more than trying to figure out how the Missouri Valley Conference placed more teams in the Sweet Sixteen than the Big Ten and Big Twelve combined.

Their new schedule has many advantages for me. Since I usually change diapers before naptime, that’s one less diaper changing everyday. As they settle into the schedule, they should become more predictable with naptimes, making it easier to plan my day. They’ll take one less feeding, which means I spend less time preparing bottles and feeding them, which gives me more time to focus on other needs for all three children. Figuring out what Abbie needs to prompt her to talk would be need number one. She really should be talking by now.